Breathing While You Sleep
by memorysdaughter
Summary: Jade struggles with her sister's brain injury. Tori tries to help. Cat falls in love. Sequel to "Breathing Room."
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **And we're back! See, I told you I'd be back. Here's chapter one. More soon.

Reviews are love! Enjoy!

* * *

"Happy birthday, dear Evie, happy birthday to you!" the assembled guests sang.

"Blow out the candles!" Robbie cheered.

"You can do it, Evie," Annie West encouraged.

"We'll do it together," Jade said, and she leaned forward. "Ready, Evie? One, two…"

"Three!" everyone else chorused.

Jade looked over at her sister, half-hoping that _this_ was the moment, spurred by birthday magic and far too much sugar, that _this_ moment would be the one where Evie's eyes regained their familiar spark, where her sister sat upright in her wheelchair and leaned forward to blow out her own birthday candles.

But Evie's eyes jerked towards Jade and the small smile on her face stayed resolutely in place.

"Three," Jade agreed, and blew out the candles.

Everyone clapped and cheered, and Annie set to cutting pieces of cake for the party-goers.

It was a lovely, festive Los Angeles fall evening. Though the end of October usually meant crisp leaves and morning frosts, in LA it was just another warm, beautiful season. Evie's birthday was being celebrated on the Wests' now-accessible back deck. In attendance were two of Evie's biggest supporters, Sikowitz and Ms. Santiago, teachers from Hollywood Arts, as well as Jade's unusual cabal of friends – Andre, Tori, Cat, Beck, and Robbie, who had come with his puppet best friend, Rex. Annie and Kent West rounded out the birthday extravaganza.

And Evie, of course. A series of seizures following a double lung transplant had caused a grievous brain injury. The young aspiring artist no longer had cystic fibrosis, but in a not-fair-at-all tradeoff, she was now completely dependent. A ventilator breathed for her, because her brain no longer sent the correct signals to her body for breathing, and she spent the majority of her time in her wheelchair, because she no longer had the muscle coordination for unassisted sitting, standing, or walking. A series of splints and braces kept her arms and legs from contracting, and a back brace held her upright in the specialized wheelchair. And Evie would be the only one at the party not tasting the delicious cake; all of her nutrients came in through a feeding tube.

It had been a long, hellacious road, and it was one Jade was still heart-broken to walk. Her bright, bubbly, beautiful sister had been transformed into a shell of a girl.

And worst of all, Evie's spot at Hollywood Arts had been taken by a new girl.

It wasn't that Jade begrudged the administration of Hollywood Arts for admitting a new student. That was probably in their best interests. Evie could no longer attend Hollywood Arts, and her spot was open for another talented young person. But it seemed awfully permanent to Jade. Though she knew that the brain injury was supposed to be static, unchanging, she could see cracks in Evie's façade. It was in Evie's willpower to get better; it always had been. And when Jade thought of Evie improving, coming back to who she had been previously, the presence of the new girl at Hollywood Arts grated at her like a piece of rough sandpaper.

"Cake, dear," Annie said, and passed Jade a plate.

"Thanks, Mom." Jade took her cake and went to sit next to Evie. "How about some frosting for the birthday girl?"

Evie turned her head towards Jade and she gave her small smile. Jade had been told by countless medical experts that this movement was _not_ indicative of pleasure; it was merely a reflex.

Jade didn't see it that way. "Okay, here's some frosting."

She used her plastic fork to smear frosting onto Evie's lips and tongue, and watched as her sister delighted in the unusual textures. Slowly, carefully, Evie licked the frosting off her lips, grunting with what seemed like pleasure as she managed to get some of it into her mouth. When her lips were clean she looked up at Jade and breathed, "_Huh."_

"It's good, right?"

"All right, it's time for presents!" Sikowitz exclaimed, clapping his hands.

The group happily gathered around Evie's wheelchair, shiny-wrapped presents at the ready.

"Mine first, mine first!" Cat squealed, and set a square package on Evie's lap.

Evie turned her head towards the dark yard and smiled.

"Shall I help you, my dear?" Kent West suggested. He brought up Evie's hand and helped her get a grip on the paper. Together they tore off the wrapping paper, exposing a flat square box. Kent pulled off the top to expose a rainbow of brightly-colored bracelets.

"Ooh, Evie, those are lovely! Look at them!" Annie prompted, smiling. "Say thank you to Cat."

"_Hah_," Evie said, and smiled in Cat's general direction.

"I made them!" Cat exclaimed.

"Oh, dear, did you? They're just wonderful!" Annie said. She slipped a few onto Evie's wrists. Evie raised her arms from her wheelchair rests and the bracelets clacked together pleasingly.

"See, I made them so they would make noise when she moves," Cat said. "One of them has jingle bells on it."

"Beautiful _and_ a therapy item!" Annie praised. "Wonderful."

"This one's from me and Tori," Andre said, and passed forward a bright pink envelope.

Kent waved the envelope in front of Evie's eyes. "See? From Andre."

He opened it and pulled out a CD in a plastic case. "It says, 'Evie's Song.'"

"Oh, Andre, did you write it?" Annie asked.

"And sang it," Andre said. "Tori helped me with the vocals."

"Well, thank you! Something new to listen to during treatments!"

"From me and Rex," Robbie said, giving Evie a box wrapped in green paper.

Kent helped Evie pull off the paper and open the box; it was filled with shoelaces.

"Since you're always wearing tennis shoes now," Robbie said.

"We thought your feet could use some bling," Rex added.

"We'll have to put some new laces in those shoes," Kent said. "Thank you, fellas!"

Beck lugged his gift up on the table. It was bulky and square and seemed heavy. "I hope you'll like it," he said, almost a bit shyly. "I had a guy at the mall help me pick it out."

"Is it a year subscription to Orange Julius?" Rex asked.

"Do they _do_ that?" Tori wanted to know.

"Well, let's see what it is," Annie said, and she set the package on Evie's lap. She helped Evie pull off the paper.

It was, according to the box, a _star lantern_.

"You just set it up in the middle of your room and turn it on, and the light inside shows constellations on the ceiling," Beck explained.

"Oh, Beck," Annie said, and she put one hand to her mouth, overcome by emotion.

"It's wonderful," Kent said. "I took astronomy in college – wonder if I could still find all those constellations still."

"Was that after the mother ship left you on our planet?" Jade asked.

Everyone laughed, and Jade saw the tears in her mother's eyes recede.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sikowitz protested. "We've still got one more!"

He and Ms. Santiago presented Annie and Kent with a bright red envelope that had been liberally decorated with stickers and ribbons. "It's for you, right now," Sikowitz said, "but what's inside will hopefully give Evie something to talk about."

Annie looked at Sikowitz as though he'd been hit in the head. Kent undid the flap of the envelope and pulled out a small certificate. "'This certificate entitles the bearer and her parents to 10 (ten) free sessions with Assistive Communication Technology specialists at Your Voice, Inc. With love from Sikowitz and Santiago.'"

"They're pros," Ms. Santiago said. "They have so many options available now. Computers that work on eye gaze, or handheld switches – our Evie's still in there. We know it. We want her to be able to let her voice be heard."

This time tears flooded Annie's eyes, and she didn't try to hide them. "Bless you," she said.

After some time, the party broke up. Annie and Kent went into the house to deal with the dishes, leaving Evie and Jade on the deck. Jade tilted her sister's wheelchair back. "My present is going to beat everyone else's," she informed Evie. "What's that, you say? It couldn't possibly be better than everything else? Well, ye of little faith. We timed your party to coincide with something bigger and brighter than anything on earth."

She leaned back in her own chair. "And it should be starting right… _now."_

As though taking their cues from Jade, handfuls of shooting stars began spilling across the sky.

"_Oooh_," Evie breathed.

"See? And all I had to do was wait for everybody to leave," Jade said, and laughed.

"_Eeeeh, oooh_," Evie intoned.

"Well, okay, I got you something else, too. We're going swimming at this awesome place," Jade said. "I talked to the lady myself – she's been doing water therapy for all kinds of people. And she says that if her techniques can't get you to relax, she'll eat her hat. Now, I didn't see what kind of hat it was, but I'm willing to offer up that wizard's hat Cat owns."

"_Hah!"_ Evie spat, and then she breathed in and out quickly over the vent.

"See? I know you're in there," Jade said.

For a few more minutes the sisters watched the shooting stars light show, Evie vocalizing every few seconds with apparent glee.

"All I want this year, for you, Evie, is movement. Positive movement. I want eye contact. Or a real smile. Or even a computer message telling me to go away. That's all I want," Jade said. "'Cause I know you're in there. You've been in there. We're going to break down the walls keeping you in your body. I promise."

She rested her head on Evie's shoulder, listening to the air _whoosh_ in and out of the girl's ventilator circuit. Evie turned her head toward her sister and made several smacking noises with her lips.

"Happy birthday, Evie," Jade whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who's stuck by me through "Breathing Room" and into this story. You guys are awesome.

Reviews are love! Enjoy!

* * *

Once Evie had been put to bed, Jade headed up to her room and turned on video chat. She was hoping to see Evanna, the _Harry Potter_ star Evie had formed a friendship with before her lung transplant. But Evanna's username showed that the bubbly girl was offline.

But Cat was on. Almost immediately, a window popped up with the redhead's worried face. "Oh my God, Jade! Thank you!"

"For what?" Jade asked.

"For… coming on!" Cat looked worried, gripping at the hem of her T-shirt. "I need to talk to somebody!"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Jade said, suddenly concerned. Usually Cat was sweet and excitable; worry was an emotion that rarely entered Cat's stratosphere. "What's wrong?"

Cat tapped her fingers on her mouth. "Well, you know how my brother has that friend named Dirk?"

"Yeah," Jade said.

"And you know how Dirk only has two fingers?"

"Yeah," Jade answered. "Dirk" had been in attendance at Cat's brother's birthday party, and for a two-fingered man, he was surprisingly good with a yo-yo.

"Where do you think Dirk's fingers went?"

Jade resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Cat, you know where Dirk's fingers went. He told you. He was playing with a high-speed laminator at his dad's business and got his hands sucked into it."

"Oh, yeah!" But Cat didn't look any less worried.

"So, we know where Dirk's fingers went," Jade said. "Is there something else you wanted to ask me?"

Cat leaned in towards the camera. "Um, Jade…"

"Hit me, Cat."

"That new girl at school?"

Pain thwacked at Jade's sternum, but she forced herself to shove it down. "Yeah?"

Cat got even closer to the camera. "Where did her legs go?"

Jade felt herself crumble into herself. She resisted the urge to smack her head on the laptop. "Cat, why don't you just ask her? Isn't she in your English class?"

Cat went bright red. "No, I can't ask her."

"Cat, I'm sure she's been asked a hundred thousand times about her legs. Or lack thereof."

"No, no, no." Cat twisted her fingers into the collar of her shirt. "I have to go."

"Okay," Jade said to a black screen. It wasn't the weirdest conversation she'd ever had with Cat, but it was up there.

She shut down the computer and headed back downstairs.

"Jade, is that you?" Annie called.

"Just wanted some water, Mom," Jade said.

She went into the kitchen and got a glass of water, then walked across the foyer and into what had previously been the Wests' dining room. It was now Evie's room, full of medical equipment, including a high-tech hospital bed. Evie was lying in bed, chirping at the projections of stars swirling over the ceiling.

Annie was on her bed, a small twin made up with soft blankets. Since Evie's return home, Annie had refused all night nursing help. "I don't want someone in my house overnight, especially someone I don't know," she said whenever Kent suggested it. "And what can a nurse do that I can't?"

"A nurse can enable you to sleep in the same bed as your husband," Kent always replied.

But it hadn't swayed Annie's firm belief that a night nurse would be nothing but trouble, and Jade knew that, deep down, her father understood Annie's reasoning behind it.

"Tell your sister to go to sleep," Annie said now as Jade drank her water.

"Evie, I know it's your birthday, but Mom says it's bedtime," Jade said. To Annie, she said, "I think the stars have gotten her all excited."

"They sure are beautiful, aren't they?" Annie asked, leaning back to look up at the twirling patterns.

"They're something," Jade said. "Evie, go to bed. Mom's tired."

Evie chirped happily.

"Good night, Mom," Jade said, and kissed her mother on the forehead.

"Good night, my love," Annie said.

Jade crossed the space between the two beds – approximately four feet – and brushed aside the tubes and wires crisscrossing the space. She leaned in and kissed Evie's forehead. Evie smelled like baby powder and a tincture of lavender that Annie applied behind her ears for sweet sleep. "Good night, Evie," she said.

Jade crept up the stairs with her glass of water in her hand. At the top of the stairs, Kent was standing in a shaft of moonlight. "Good night, darling," he said.

"Dad?" Jade asked.

Kent turned. "Hmm?"

"How many birthdays are going to be like this?"

Kent thought about this, adjusting his glasses. "As many as it takes, Jade."

"You believe she's still in there, don't you?"

There was a pause. "Not all the time… but sometimes I see a flicker in her eyes that tells me some part of her is still there. But if she'll ever be our Evie again… No. She's our Evie, no matter who she is. She's ours, and we'll love her and celebrate as many birthdays as she'll give us," Kent finally answered.

Jade didn't know if that was the right answer, but it _felt_ right. "Okay."

"See you in the morning, love," Kent said, and he kissed her on the forehead. "Love you."

"Love you too, Dad."

Jade went into her room and sat on her bed, staring out at the night. Everything seemed so large and so open – so many possibilities and so much pain.

It was a long, long time before she felt safe enough to close her eyes and try to sleep.

* * *

Across town, Aelphie Donovan was sitting on her bed, flicking through the photos she'd taken throughout the first month and a half of school. She had always been interested in photography, and in photojournalism in particular. She practiced by taking photos of everyone around her. Since students at her previous high school hadn't always been thrilled to be the source of her art, her photographs had focused mostly on her family. Luckily, a dramatic older sister and an energetic younger brother made for some interesting photos. But Aelphie was still glad to have new subjects in her classmates at Hollywood Arts.

One of her favorite new subjects was Mr. Sikowitz, a strange, energetic teacher with wild hair and a passion for wearing interesting clothing. He was like a live wire, and no one knew what he would do next. Monday morning could find him weeping in the courtyard over the death of a detective on the latest _Law and Order_ franchise, while Tuesday would bring a plastic light-saber duel in the main hallway between Sikowitz and a representative from an office furniture company trying to sell rolling chairs to the principal.

And at a school filled with drama students, there was never a shortage of other subjects. Strange costumes, sudden musical interludes, and Shakespearean insults were all part of daily lives.

Hollywood Arts was nothing like Glengrove High School. The students all seemed to be superbly comfortable in their own skin, delighted to spend time each day devoted to their artistic passions, and completely devoted to the furthering of their craft.

Aelphie still wasn't sure if Hollywood Arts was where she belonged, despite reassurances from everyone involved in the transfer. Her parents and siblings were excited for her to have new opportunities. Her teachers at Glengrove, who had realized early on that Aelphie was extremely talented, had been more than supportive of the transfer to Hollywood Arts. And her new teachers at Hollywood Arts were extremely welcoming, doing everything they could to make the transition easier on her.

Aelphie's favorite new teacher was Ms. Santiago. The young, hip woman was an extremely talented artist who seemed to be interested in everything. Aelphie had already had a variety of conversations with Ms. Santiago, with topics ranging from Ansel Adams to disability to social media hoaxes. Ms. Santiago was smart and engaged, two things that Aelphie's teachers at Glengrove hadn't always been.

There was a knock at Aelphie's bedroom door. "Come in," she called.

The door swung open and her brother Eian strode in, dressed in his bright yellow fire truck footie pajamas. "Kiss," he requested.

He trotted over to Aelphie's bed and threw his arms around her neck. He smelled like baby shampoo and Mr. Bubble. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too."

"Tell me a story," he said, and shoved himself up on Aelphie's low bed.

"Okay," Aelphie agreed, setting her camera on the desk. "Which one?"

"Tell me the story of how Mommy and Daddy came to find us," Eian said, and he snuggled down into Aelphie's blankets.

Aelphie rolled her eyes. "I tell you this story _every _time."

"It's my favorite," Eian protested.

Aelphie gave a dramatic sigh. "_Fine_."

"You love it too."

"Yeah, I do." She grabbed for the small remote sitting on the desk and clicked off the overhead lights, starting the star projector in the corner. Overhead, little beams of light twirled and danced. "Once upon a time, there was a man and a woman who loved each other very much. They had so much love to give – they wanted to give it to children. But the way things worked out, they weren't able to have any of their own children."

"So they went looking for some," Eian said.

"Mm-hmm. First they found a beautiful baby girl in Russia that nobody wanted to adopt because God made her mouth a little different. But the man and the woman saw that this beautiful girl was happy, and sweet, and so they brought her home to America. And they named her Micah and she had a surgery to fix her mouth, and she grew up to be our big sister."

"Micah Careen," Eian said drowsily.

"Yep. And a year after that, they heard from the lady who had taken them to Micah's baby house. They had another baby, who had been born without any legs. And they thought the man and the woman would be perfect parents for this girl. So they brought their second little girl home and they named her Aelphina Rose," Aelphie went on. "And they taught her how to get around without legs, and they loved her to pieces."

"Pieces," Eian murmured.

"The two girls were so happy. They had wonderful parents. And the man and the woman were happy, because they were a Mommy and a Daddy. And they all thought that their family was complete."

"But it wasn't," Eian said, and a slow, sleepy smile crossed his face.

"Apparently not," Aelphie said. "Because seven years ago, when Micah was ten and Aelphie was nine, their parents heard about a little boy who had been burned in a fire. His birth parents had to give him up, because he wouldn't be safe with them anymore. So they gave him to Mommy and Daddy, and they brought home a little brother for Micah and Aelphie. And what was his name?"

"Eian Marcus Donovan," Eian said proudly, and he snuggled in closer to Aelphie.

"That's right. And Micah and Aelphie treated him like he was a little doll. And they loved him so much," Aelphie said. "They knew he was the perfect fit for their family."

"And he stayed forever and ever," Eian murmured.

"Mm-hmm," Aelphie said. "And the girls were so happy. And Mommy and Daddy were happy. They were a big, silly, happy family."

"The end," Eian pronounced.

For a moment the siblings stared at the twirling light patterns. Then Eian said, softly, "Aelphie?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think I'm ugly?"

"Of course I don't. Who told you you're ugly?"

"A new boy at school. He said I looked like a monster."

"Do you think you're a monster?"

"No."

"I don't think you're a monster. Do you think _I'm_ a monster?"

"No," Eian replied promptly. "I think you're half a person."

Aelphie smiled in the cozy darkness. "I'm a whole person in half a body," she corrected him gently, and heard him breathe a happy sigh. "Good night, Eian."

"Good night, Aelphie." He rolled over and curled in on himself.

Aelphie leaned back, stretching happily, knowing that any moment, her father would come up the stairs and carry Eian to his bed. She looked out at the star-filled night, warm from the cuddly little boy curled up next to her and from the warmth of the story she'd told her favorite little brother.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **I'm having some trouble getting this story off the ground. Thanks to all my reviewers, readers, followers, and favoriters - you make me want to work harder to bring you more story bits.

Enjoy!

* * *

The next afternoon, after school, Jade came home and changed into her swimsuit. Downstairs, Annie was changing Evie into hers.

"Are you sure you'll be all right on your own?" Annie asked, looking a little worried.

Jade stuffed a bunch of towels into a big tote bag. "Yes, and I'm not calling this off. You've had an appointment to see Delores at Hair Apparent for two months now."

"There's just a lot going on," Annie said, trailing her fingers along the back of Evie's wheelchair. "And the vent…"

"Mom," Jade said, "this lady has been doing water therapy for _years_. She's also a registered nurse. Her son, the lifeguard, is a paramedic. And I've been taking Evie out by myself since… since right after we came home."

"I guess…"

"Just get in the car and go see Delores," Jade said. "She called last week to say how much she misses you."

"Really?" Annie smiled at that.

"She says nobody at the shop can gossip quite like you," Jade said. "You have a certain _flair_."

"Well." Annie blushed.

"You deserve it, Mom," Jade said. "And besides, I'm not going alone."

"No?" Annie pulled up the covers on Evie's bed.

"No," Jade answered. "Tori's going to meet me there."

Annie finished making the bed and turned to face her daughters. "Tori is a good friend."

Jade had no qualms about agreeing with her. Events over the past year and a half had proved that Tori was more than a good friend. She was an amazing friend. "Yes."

"Okay, then," Annie said. "I'll help you get Evie in the van and then I guess I'll go… see Delores."

"Good," Jade said. "And after you get done with Delores, you're supposed to go to The Tanglewood and give this to the desk clerk."

She handed Annie a red envelope.

"Jade," Annie said. "Is this a game?"

"No," Jade answered. "I don't think Dad likes games, and he's the one who gave it to me."

They loaded Evie into the van. The girl in the wheelchair was chirping happily, her head rocking back and forth quickly.

"Have a good time," Annie said, and kissed Jade on the forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too." They all seemed to be saying that a lot more in the West family.

The drive to Innovative Aqua-Therapy Solutions took only twenty minutes. It was a long, low building located in the middle of a quiet residential area. Jade was pleasantly surprised to see Tori already outside the building, sitting on a bench, reading a book.

"Hi!" Tori said brightly as Jade got out of the van.

"Hi," Jade answered.

They went around to the back of the van together and Tori watched as Jade brought the wheelchair lift down, then clambered up into the van to bring Evie out.

"Hi, Evie," Tori said.

Evie chirped and then squealed.

"She's happy," Jade said as she maneuvered the wheelchair onto the lift.

"Sounds like it," Tori agreed. "Do you think she knows we're going swimming?"

"I hope so," Jade answered. "Can you grab our towels and stuff? They're in the big canvas bag."

"Yep."

In a few minutes the lift was back in the van and the girls were on their way up to the pool.

Inside the facility was warm and comforting. A teenage girl was behind the receptionist's desk, and she looked up at them with a smile on her face. "Hi," she said. "Are you here for a session with Maureen?"

"Yes," Jade said.

"Is this your first time here?" she asked.

"I was here earlier to meet Maureen," Jade said, "but it'll be our first time in the pool."

"Great," the girl said. "You'll want to go straight down the hall behind me to the women's changing room. There's some lockers in there for your stuff, and then once you're changed, head on out to the pool deck. Maureen will meet you out there. If you need any help, just let us know. There's an intercom button on the inside of the locker room door."

"Thanks," Jade said, and Tori waved.

They wheeled Evie into the women's changing room and put their things away. Once the girls were in their bathing suits, they proceeded out to the pool.

"Oh, Evie, look at this place," Jade said, taking in the space before her.

It was a gorgeous indoor pool, warm and calm. Everything was clean and bright, with white tiles and bright blue water. A long ramp led into the shallow end of the pool, while a chair lift provided a way to get into the deep end of the water. In the shallow end, a little girl with Down syndrome was practicing swimming arm motions with a blond woman who appeared to be in her twenties. A teenaged guy sat on the lifeguard stand, holding a red buoy in an authoritative manner.

"Jade?" A woman with a bob of dark red hair strode across the pool deck towards the girls.

"Hi, Maureen," Jade said. "Maureen, this is my sister Evie and our friend Tori. Tori, Evie, this is Maureen."

Tori shook hands with the aqua-therapist, and Evie chirped.

"We're going to use one of our support chairs to get your sister into the pool," Maureen said. "We'll place your suction machine at the side of the pool, where someone can get to it quickly in case we need it. I have a special container for the ventilator, so it will stay with your sister while we're in the water. Today I think we'll spend about twenty minutes to a half hour in the water. It's going to be a very long process and a lot of it will be explaining to Evie everything that's going on, and keeping her comfortable. None of it will be what you think of as traditional 'swimming,' and we're A-Okay with that."

Maureen led them over to a small area that had been partitioned off from the pool by several panels of wooden slats. Several white and blue chairs were behind the partition, each with adjustable seats and leg supports and head rests.

"These look like our shower chairs," Jade commented.

"That's exactly what they are," Maureen said proudly. "Repurposed bath or shower chairs that have been adapted for our aqua-therapy clients."

She started rolling a couple of chairs towards Evie. "We used to use specialized swim supports and chairs made specifically for swimming, but what we learned over the years is that, for clients who are used to the support of a well-fitted wheelchair and who have very little experience in aqua-therapy, starting them off on something like a floating mat is way too open for them. They don't have the body skills yet. Evie," she said, "do you do any physical therapy?"

Evie, apparently responding to her name, let out a low "_Hmmm."_

"She has a physical therapist that comes to the house three times a week," Jade answered. "They're mostly concerned with maintaining range of motion."

"And so are we," Maureen said. "We can do a lot of great things with range of motion in the water, but if the client is afraid of the water, we won't be able to do anything. So for the first few sessions, we want to get the client in the water and get them used to being in the water."

She looked over the chairs, seemingly doing a calculation of some sort, and at last picked one that she rolled forward. "So we're going to put Evie in the chair and get all the mechanical preparations ready, and then we'll get in the water. Are you comfortable transferring her over?"

"Mm-hmm," Jade said, putting the brakes on the wheelchair, and she started to undo the straps holding Evie to her wheelchair – feet, wrists, chest, waist.

Once Evie was free from the straps, Jade carefully slid her arms under Evie's knees and behind her neck, and counted to three softly: "_One… two… three_…" On three the sisters moved together, Evie's feet spasming and her arms flailing in the air as Jade lifted her over to the swimming chair.

"Good job," Jade breathed as Evie was secure in the chair, fastening straps around her sister. "Good girl."

Maureen unhooked the suction machine from the back of Evie's wheelchair. "I'll take this out to the poolside. Tori, will you come with me to get the vent bucket?"

"Sure," Tori said.

"We're going swimming," Jade said, leaning in close to Evie's face. Evie's eyes were flicking back and forth quickly and she had a small smile on her face. "Are you excited? Hmm?"

She took the ventilator off the back of Evie's wheelchair and slung it over her shoulder. Then she rolled Evie out across the pool deck to join Maureen and Tori by the ramp. Tori was carrying something that looked exactly like a rectangular Rubbermaid container.

When Jade mentioned this to Maureen, Maureen laughed. "We just call it the vent bucket because it sounds better than saying that we're going to put lifesaving equipment in a plastic tote. But it keeps the water out and you know what? It floats."

She took the ventilator from Jade and set it in the plastic box. "Okay, we're ready. We're going to go slowly into the pool, talking to Evie the whole way. Jade, will you stand in front of Evie and let her know what's going on? I'll walk at the back and push the chair. Tori, can you be in charge of the vent bucket?"

Once everyone had their duties, the three ladies formed a circle around Evie's chair and began slowly rolling her into the water.

"Here we go, Evie," Jade said, unsure of what to say. "We're going down the ramp. We're going to get into the water."

She backed slowly into the pool, feeling the warm water rise up over her feet. "Oh, it's warm. You're going to love this, Evie."

As they walked slowly into the warm water, Jade thought of other things to talk about. "I think the last time we went swimming was on the way home from Disney World. Do you remember that? We were at a crummy hotel and we went swimming in their pool. You had your trach and a central line, so you couldn't actually go in the water, but Beck found you a bright pink pool float and you went floating."

They were deeper in the water now, the blue waves lapping at Jade's calves. The water was still nowhere near Evie's feet, high above the ground in the specialized footplates of the swim chair.

"That was when Robbie got it into his head to do some super-special Israeli dive, and he cracked his head on the side of the pool and Tori and Andre had to jump in and rescue him. Luckily, we managed to convince Robbie that he shouldn't ever do the super-secret Israeli dive anymore, and so far, he hasn't done it."

Jade took a few more steps. "Okay, the water's going to touch your feet now, Evie, okay?"

She looked back at Maureen. "Am I doing this right?"

"You're doing awesome, Jade," Maureen said.

"Um, okay. Well, just let me know if I should do something differently… Tori, how's the vent?"

"It's fine," Tori said. "Just keeps doing… its vent stuff."

"Okay." Jade watched the water roll up over Evie's toes. Evie arched her back and squealed. "Hey, hey, it's okay," Jade said to Evie. "It's just water. Nice warm water."

Evie breathed quickly over the ventilator, a sign that she was unhappy.

"Hey," Jade said, "you're okay. I know this is a new experience, and I know those haven't all been the best for you. But I'm here and Tori's here, and we are definitely safe. This is your birthday present, remember? I wanted to do this for you because I thought you'd like it."

She kept her hands on the footplate and leaned forward to speak directly to Evie. "Shh, sweetheart, everything's okay. You love swimming. You used to hate when you had a line, because it meant you couldn't go in the pool. So now – no lines! You can go in the pool!"

Evie's eyes slid from one side to the other and she let out a low squeal.

"We're going in the pool," Jade said. "Let's get a little deeper, okay?"

Slowly, slowly, they waded into the water. The pool lapped up over Evie's feet, and then her shins, and then her knees, until it was up to her waist. By that time they were at the bottom of the ramp, and Maureen steered the chair out into the pool itself.

Remarkably, Evie got calmer the deeper they went. Once they were in the pool proper, she started looking around at everything – the lapping water, the little girl practicing her swimming, the painted panels over the ceiling lights. Her breathing dropped back to normal and she started letting out the little chirps that usually meant she was happy. She managed to spasm her elbows into her sides, which allowed her fingertips to trail in the water.

"Good job," Maureen praised. "We're in the water. Great job, Evie."

"Now what?" Jade asked.

"Now… we let Evie lead us," Maureen said. "Fingers in the water is a great start. Let's see what else happens."

* * *

"Ms. Santiago, I had a question about the photography assignment that's due on Friday," Cat said as she walked into the 2-D art room. "Did you want – ?"

She stopped abruptly when she realized the new girl was sitting at one of the art tables with colored pencils spread out around her. "Oh! Um!"

Cat went as red as her hair.

"Hi," the new girl said brightly, smiling at Cat. "Ms. Santiago went down to talk to Mr. Sikowitz about something. I guess they're really pumped up about the Halloween Spook-Tacular. I think they're renting a bouncy castle."

"Oh! Oh! Okay!"

"But she said she'd be right back," the new girl went on. "So you could wait."

Cat shook her head quickly. "No, I'm okay. I'm…"

"Hey, aren't you in my English class?"

"No! No, I am definitely not!"

"Oh, yeah, I remember you," the new girl went on. "You did that report on how the plot of _Once Is Enough_ reminded you of that old TV show, 'Carmen Sandiego'! That was great!"

She dropped her colored pencil onto the table and rolled her wheelchair over to Cat. "I'm Aelphie Donovan. Nice to meet you."

"Oh! Um! I'm Cat!" Cat stuck out her hand.

Aelphie shook it. "Nice to meet you, Cat. Do you want to wait for Ms. Santiago? I've got some more paper, if you want to draw."

"Oh! If you're sure…"

"It's just paper," Aelphie said, shrugging. "And I never mind sharing my pencils."

For a few long moments they sat together in companionable silence, sketching with colored pencils. Cat awkwardly drew grade-school-esque flowers, five petals, a yellow center, and a wiry green stem. Upon looking over at Aelphie's paper, she gasped. "That's beautiful," she exclaimed.

Aelphie looked down at the sketch before her – a young woman in what seemed to be a private school uniform. "It's just my sister Micah," she said. "She goes to Brentwood. She's a genius."

"But you're an _artist_," Cat said, in awe of the drawing.

Aelphie shrugged. "It's just something to pass the time."

Cat looked down at the drawing and then jerked her eyes away, blushing again.

"Is there something you wanted to talk about, Cat?" Aelphie asked.

"Nope! No way."

"Are you sure? Because you can ask me anything."

"Um! Where did your… where did you… get those colored pencils?" Cat went even brighter red and dropped her gaze back to her flowery drawing.

"At the art supply on Hacienda," Aelphie said. "But I don't think that's what you wanted to ask."

"No," Cat said, and shook her head, eyes still on the flowers.

"I bet you were wondering," Aelphie said slowly, "where my legs are."

"Well… I mean… you don't _have_ to tell me, but…"

"I was born without them," Aelphie said. "Never had any. However, I do have feet. So, like any other girl, I can fully participate in the riot that is shoe shopping. I _can_… I just choose not to. I think shoes are silly. Nobody can see my shoes anyway. In fact, I'm not wearing any right now."

"In school?" Cat gasped. "You're supposed to wear shoes in school!"

"Yeah – but can you tell I'm not wearing them?" Aelphie asked, grinning.

Cat looked over at the girl in her wheelchair. "No."

"There you go." Aelphie smiled. "You, by the way, have great taste in shoes."

"Thank you," Cat said. "My brother bought them for me at a roadside stand in Missouri."

"Sweet," Aelphie said. She started to gather up the colored pencils.

"Oh, let me help you," Cat said, and reached forward for the pencils. Their hands collided in mid-air and the pencils spilled all over the floor. "Oh, my goodness! I'm so sorry!"

"Not a big deal," Aelphie said. She locked her wheelchair brakes and swung herself out of the chair. In a few seconds she was under the table, gathering up the dropped pencils, nimbly swinging herself back and forth with decisive placements of her hands.

Cat just stared, watching the half-bodied girl slide around on the tile floor.

Finally Aelphie grabbed the last pencil, and she handed them to Cat, then swung herself back into her wheelchair. "I actually prefer getting around that way," she said, taking the colored pencils and zipping them into a blue pouch. "My mother prefers the wheelchair, because she thinks eager high school students are going to kick me in the face."

"I would _never_ kick you in the face!" Cat said.

"Oh, I know," Aelphie said, grinning. "I know you're a good friend, Cat."

"But… we just met," Cat protested.

"So you're not a good friend?"

"No! I am!"

"Then I was right," Aelphie said.

Ms. Santiago came into the room. "Oh, hi, Cat," she said. "Can I help you with something?"

"Um, yeah, the photography assignment," Cat said.

"The one for Friday? Black-and-white film only."

"Okay, thanks," Cat said. She turned around, looking for Aelphie, but the girl, her wheelchair, and her colored pencils were gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Hello to readers and reviewers and followers! I'm back! I took a break for awhile to participate in National Novel Writing Month - I emerged victorious (no pun intended) as a winner, and now I'm back to continue my fanfics. Thanks so much for being patient with me!

Enjoy!

* * *

"All right, my little muffins!" Sikowitz exclaimed, flinging his arms out wide as he made his entrance. "It's time to talk about everyone's favorite holiday!"

"Hanukkah!" Robbie exclaimed.

"Amateur Night at The Funny Factory?" Rex suggested.

"Free Comic Book Day," Andre said.

"My birthday!" Cat squealed.

Sikowitz strode to the front of the room. "No, no, no, and… no. But they were all excellent guesses. No, we're here to talk about _Parents' Night!"_

The room filled with groans.

"What's with the groans?" Sikowitz asked, grabbing a coconut from the lectern and stabbing a straw into it.

"Parents' Night is lame," Jade said.

"It wasn't last year," Sikowitz said. "All of my end-of-the-year evaluations claimed that Ms. Santiago and I were geniuses."

"Are you sure those weren't the ones you wrote yourself?" Tori asked.

Sikowitz took a long, _long_ drink from his coconut.

"I said…"

"I don't have time for your absolutely true foolishness, Tori," Sikowitz said. "We're here to talk about Parents' Night."

He crossed the platform stage and sat down on the top step. "Now, Ms. Santiago and I have discussed our plan for Parents' Night _endlessly_, and I am pleased to inform you that we will be working off of last year's model. All of my students will be paired with students from Ms. Santiago's classes, and each pair of students will create an art and drama fusion presentation for Parents' Night. And Parents' Night will be held the night _before_ the Halloween Spook-Tacular!"

Sikowitz looked out at his students, none of whom had moved. "I was expecting applause, but I guess stunned silence works just as well."

He stood up, his love beads clacking. "All right, well, if there are no further questions, I guess we'll draw partners."

"I have a question," Jade said.

"Yes, Jade, you _are_ wearing too much black," Sikowitz said.

"Not that."

"Too much eyeliner?"

"Not that."

"Too-stompy boots?"

"That's not a word," Jade said. "No. I was wondering if we will have the same partners as last year."

"Well, that's really a question for the Random Partner Box, but my guess is that the fates will smile upon you and bless you with a new partner," Sikowitz said. He grabbed a brightly-decorated box from the lectern and shook it. A shower of glitter and sequins rained to the floor. "Perhaps I was a little over-effusive on the glitter and a little under-effusive with the glue. Hmm."

"And Jade – you _can't_ have the same partner as before!" Cat squealed. "Remember? Duncan Sundquist moved to Indianapolis!"

"I know, Cat."

"So then why'd you ask…"

"I was just making sure, Cat."

"Relax, Jade," Andre said. "Duncan Sundquist isn't going to pop up from Indianapolis and wreck your presentation like he did last year."

"Friggin' stinky feet stooge," Jade grumbled.

"All right, let's draw our partners for this extremely exciting enterprise," Sikowitz said, still staring at the glittery carpet. "Who wants to go first?"

"Ooh! Me!" Cat said, bouncing up and down in her seat.

"Fine," Sikowitz said. "The Random Partner Box chooses… Elliott Meyers."

"_Yay!"_ Cat squealed.

"Do you even know him?" Tori asked.

"No," Cat said.

"Then why did you react so happily?"

"Because I'm not partnered with Duncan Sundquist!"

Sikowitz went around the room, drawing random partners from the Random Partner Box. Finally only Jade was left. "All right, Jade, let's see if Duncan Sundquist can resurrect himself from Indianapolis."

The shaggy-haired teacher dipped into the Random Partner Box and drew out the last card. "Aelphie Donovan. Huh. I was expecting Duncan Sundquist to show up."

"Guy's like a bad rash," Andre said.

The bell rang.

"We'll have our first Parents' Night fusion session on Wednesday!" Sikowitz said. "Please read chapter four for tomorrow!"

Everyone streamed out of the classroom, except for Jade. She felt glued to her seat.

When it was just her and Sikowitz, the teacher resumed his seat on the first step of the stage. "Jade, is there something you'd like to talk about?"

"I can't be her partner," Jade said, surprised to find that her voice was choked with tears. "I just can't."

She was expecting Sikowitz to say something about the Random Partner Box controlling what happened, for better or for worse. Instead he was silent for a few moments.

"I just _can't_," Jade repeated.

"I understand your reticence," Sikowitz said.

"Do you?"

"I was at Evie's birthday party," Sikowitz said.

"And I _live_ with Evie. Every single day. And I look into her eyes and I see the wreck that her life is right now. I _know_ she's in there, I know it. I can see it. And she would be _pissed_ if I brought that girl home. And you know that's how it's going to be, unless I go to her house. And I can't go to her house."

Sikowitz took this in calmly.

"I can't. Evie would hate me. Hate me. And I know all those doctors and medical people say that she's not in there, that she can't understand what's going on, that everything she does is a reflex – but it's not true. Not true. She's in there. And she would be _mad_." Jade clenched her fists.

"I understand what you're saying," Sikowitz said.

"Do you?"

"Yes, I do," Sikowitz said. "And all I can say is that you are so patient. And a wonderful sister, to be so considerate about Evie's feelings. But may I remind you of one of Evie's wonderful traits?"

Jade didn't answer him, trying to keep herself from crying.

"Evie was a friend to everyone, Jade," Sikowitz said. "Evie never met a stranger. She found friends in places where others only saw enemies. And that is what's beautiful about Evie."

Jade put her head in her hands.

"And I know you saw that in Evie," Sikowitz said. "Do you think that Evie would like Aelphie?"

"Yes," Jade said, somewhat muffled.

"I think she would too," Sikowitz said. "But since we can't show Aelphie the person Evie used to be, could you show Aelphie the kind of friend Evie is?"

"I'm not some sort of shining example," Jade said. "It's not my job to be somebody's friend. It's not my job to be a good person all the time."

"No," Sikowitz said. "No, it's not your job. But I think you would agree that one job that you are willing to focus your emotional energies on – and that's being Evie's sister."

Jade lifted her head up. "What's in that coconut milk, hippie?"

Sikowitz smiled. "Would you believe it's peace, rainbows, and anti-oxidants?"

"No," Jade said. "I wouldn't."

"Well, then, it's just years of experience from mentoring young people who are completely worth all the effort I give them," Sikowitz said.

"_That_ I believe."

"Do you believe it enough to be Miss Donovan's partner?"

Jade thought about this. Sikowitz took a long sip of coconut milk.

"No," Jade said after a long time. "No, I don't."

Sikowitz set the coconut on the floor next to him.

"But I'm willing to try it," Jade said.

"You are?"

"Yes."

"If you don't believe it…?"

"Would you believe it's because I feel a deep-seated affection for my barefooted, love-bead-wearing teacher?"

"Yes," Sikowitz said. "Yes, I would."

"Well, good," Jade said.

She grabbed her bag and stood as the warning bell rang.

"Jade," Sikowitz said.

She turned back from the door. "Yeah?"

"I'm proud of you," Sikowitz said. "And no matter how much eyeliner you put on… or black clothes you shroud yourself in… I'll always be proud of you."

"Save it for the Christmas card," Jade said.

"Sometimes people need to hear things they don't think they need to hear," Sikowitz said.

"Okay," Jade said. "Shave your feet."

* * *

"Evie," Jade said as she came into the girl's dining room quarters, "I have something to tell you."

Evie was up in her wheelchair, sitting before the bay window. Mozart was on the CD player and Evie was flexing her hands up off the arm rests, smacking her lips merrily.

Jade turned down the music and pulled up an ottoman next to her sister's wheelchair. "Remember Parents' Night?"

Evie smacked her lips.

"Evie, pay attention," Jade said.

Evie smacked her lips and rolled her head towards her sister. "_Hah-hmmmm_."

"Better," Jade said. "Now, listen, we're doing Parents' Night again. Obviously. We do it every damn year. At some point, the parents need to realize that they don't really deserve a night every year."

"_Hummmmm_," Evie said, and rolled her eyes.

"I agree," Jade said. "Anyway, remember last year how we had partners… that's how you got to be such good friends with Tori."

Evie tilted her head away from Jade and smacked her lips.

"I'm over here," Jade said, and waited.

Finally Evie grew tired of looking at whatever it was on her far side, and rolled her head back to Jade.

"Thank you," Jade said. "Now, we got our partners today. And my partner is… is the new girl at school."

Evie was quiet, and for the first time since Jade had come in, she wasn't smacking her lips or moving compulsively. She blinked slowly and calmly at her sister.

"That's more like it," Jade said. "Now, Sikowitz is a regular nutter, can we agree?"

Evie smiled and blinked.

"Agreed," Jade said. "But he was right about one thing. If you were at school, you would be her friend. We won't go into the whole dichotomy about how if you were at school, she wouldn't be, because at this point it's not really important. Anyway, because you can't be at school, I'm going to be her friend. I think that if you were here… you would like that."

Evie smiled again. "Lllll….eee-oooh," she said.

"That's the first time I've heard you say that," Jade said. "Usually your words are in the 'hmmm' range."

"Lllll….eee-oh," Evie repeated.

"So I'm going to assume it means something," Jade said. "Okay, let's translate it."

"_Llll… eee-orrr,_" Evie said again.

"The letter L is for… _love_," Jade said. "Blink twice for yes."

Evie tilted her head towards the window.

"I'm over here," Jade said.

Evie tilted her head back and blinked, slowly, twice.

"Good girl," Jade said. "So, love. Second word…_ you_? Blink twice for yes."

There was a long, long pause where Evie stared out the window and flapped her hands.

"I'm still over here," Jade said.

Evie did a few more hand flaps, then rolled her head back towards Jade and blinked twice.

"Wow," Jade said. "Love you? Is that what you were trying to say? Blink twice for yes."

That time there was no wait; Evie blinked twice immediately.

Jade threw her arms around her sister and sobbed with joy.

She felt like the whole world was celebrating with her, blaring out the happiness she'd waited so long to feel again.

It was only moments later that she realized it was Evie's ventilator and sat monitor alarming. In her haste to hug Evie, she'd accidentally knocked her sister's breathing tubes out.

"Sorry, sorry," Jade said, and reconnected the vent tubes immediately.

Evie rolled her head towards the window and smiled. "Lllll," she informed Jade.

"Yes, I letter-L love you too," Jade said.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Thanks for sticking with me! Doing National Novel Writing Month throughout November really dries up my creativity for most of December, so I'm sorry there hasn't been a new update in awhile. So here's one! Enjoy!

Reviews are love!

* * *

As excited as Jade was about Evie's progress, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get Evie to "speak" again. In fact, Evie seemed to be delighting in _not_ giving Jade what she wanted. Giggles, hand flapping, long drooly silences, grins, and constant vocalizations in the vein of "Hmmmm" and "Heeeeohhh" were all that Evie would give, as though she had said all she needed to say.

The first meeting with the assistive communication specialists was being held during the day, and Annie and Kent firmly refused to let Jade miss school. "They're going to spend a couple of hours getting to know Evie," Annie said. "Nothing is going to be happening at this first meeting. You won't be missing anything."

As it turned out, it was also the day of the field trip to see a new dance-drama-art fusion that Sikowitz and Santiago were hoping would inspire their students' Parents' Night performances, so Jade had no real desire to miss school.

"All right, all right, but let me know if anything happens," she said on her way out the door.

School that day seemed to be almost torture. The students had their first three periods, encompassing most of their academic studies, followed by boxed lunch on the bus as they drove to the fusion performance, which was being held at a new, artsy auditorium in the city.

Jade met up with Beck at his locker as third period ended. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Excited for the performance today?"

"Yeah," Beck said. "Excited for that box lunch they keep promising us."

He kissed her cheek.

"What's so exciting about mushy sandwiches and stale cookies?"

"We'll be eating them on the bus on an adventure," Beck said.

The bell rang, and they walked hand-in-hand to Sikowitz's classroom.

"All right, my muffins!" their scruffy teacher announced as he came in. "We'll be heading out to the parking lot to board our bus in just a few minutes. Please remember to put on a name tag and grab a boxed lunch on your way out!"

Cat bounced up to her friends. "There's Kool-Aid in the lunches!"

"All right!" Robbie said. "What flavor?"

"Kool-Aid flavor," Cat said.

"There are a lot of different flavors of Kool-Aid," Andre said.

"No, there's just one," Cat said. "Kool-Aid flavor."

"Well, okay, what about Berry Punch? That's a flavor of Kool-Aid."

"Oh." Cat stopped abruptly, looking pensive. "I didn't even think about that."

"It's all right," Andre said. "Whatever flavor it is, I'm sure we'll enjoy it."

"But I don't know what flavor it is!"

"Don't freak out!" Andre said. "It's all good. I promise I'll drink whatever it is."

Tori ran up behind the group as they were putting on their name tags. "Sorry I'm late. I was in the library."

"Is there anything interesting in the library?" Jade asked. "Ever?"

"There was a riot in the library last week," Beck said.

"Yeah, but it was a boring riot," Andre said. "No fires. Just a lot of shoving and yelling."

"I was doing research on this dance company we're going to see," Tori said. "And they are some hardcore weirdoes."

"We're led by the King of the Weirdoes," Jade said.

"I think you'll find they're a little different," Tori said. "I was reading about this thing they do with colored strobes, and…"

Ms. Santiago's students had already boarded the bus as Sikowitz's class emerged from the building. Jade climbed aboard the bus, looking for her partner.

She needn't have worried, because Aelphie Donovan noticed her almost immediately and waved. Jade gritted her teeth, gripped her box lunch and her bag, and headed down the aisle.

"Hope these seats are all right," Aelphie said.

"They're great," Jade said. She had never really considered the merits of one seat on a school bus over another.

As the bus pulled out of the Hollywood Arts parking lot, Aelphie swiveled in the seat a little to look at Jade. "So, should we start with some introductions? I mean, we were already sort of introduced on the first day, but chatting at lockers really doesn't give us much to go on."

"Um, yeah, sure," Jade said.

"Okay, well, should I go first?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Um, great. So, I'm Aelphie Donovan. Everybody just calls me Aelphie, except for my grandmother, who calls me Aelphina. I'm a visual arts major… obviously. I just transferred to Hollywood Arts from Glengrove High School. It was okay, but it wasn't… it wasn't like this. Um, and I have a brother and a sister, and all of us were adopted. And I've never had legs. Well, I have legs. But they're fake and they're cumbersome and I can't really walk on them and I hate them, so I only wear them for really special occasions. Like funerals. And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I hate when people stare. I'd rather they ask as many questions as they want."

The girl smiled at Jade. "I guess that's it."

Jade looked at the girl who had taken her sister's place at Hollywood Arts, the girl who the Random Partner Box had chosen for her, and remembered the conversation with Sikowitz. Evie couldn't be there to smile at Aelphie, to make her feel welcome, to plumb her mind for ideas. But Jade was there.

She took a deep breath. "I'm Jade West. Performing arts major with a focus on vocal and theatrical performance. I've been at Hollywood Arts since middle school. Sikowitz is my favorite teacher. He always has been, because he's just so inventive. People think he's crazy, but…"

"I think he's brilliant," Aelphie said with a smile.

"Good," Jade said. "I have one sister. Her name is Evie, and she's… she's my entire life."

"Yeah," Aelphie said. "I… was asking some people at school about her. Mostly Cat."

"Yeah?"

"And they love her," Aelphie said, "but definitely not as much as you do."

"She's my life," Jade repeated. "She was at Hollywood Arts up until last year as a visual arts major. She… um… she had cystic fibrosis, and she survived a double lung transplant only to have a seizure that threw a blood clot into her brain and caused an anoxic injury. So now she's ventilator-dependent, unable to walk or speak or swallow or stand or eat by mouth. All these medical professionals keep telling us that there's no way she recognizes us, that she can probably see but she can't understand what she's seeing, that all of her movements are just involuntary, that she has no comprehension. Which just kills me, because I know she's in there, and it's like everyone's just given up on her. And I think I'd give anything to have her back, except that if she was back the way she was before, she'd probably either be dead or on life support, still waiting for lungs."

Jade wiped away tears she hadn't known were in her eyes. "Sorry. I'm getting a little… blurry just thinking about all that stuff."

"It's okay," Aelphie said. "I don't have any kind of experiences that are anywhere _close_ to that, but my little brother Eian… he's a burn victim, and every couple of years he has to go through reconstruction surgeries to make him look more… normal. And when I go see him in the little kids' hospital, all wrapped up in bandages, I just lose it. One time he had an emergency revision surgery because a skin graft that didn't take caused an allergic reaction and his airway closed off. He was okay, but… it was scary. So while that doesn't even compare to what you go through, I understand."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments, and then Jade said, "Well, we might as well open up these box lunches. I hear there's Kool-Aid."

"All right!" Aelphie said. "I love their Berry Punch flavor."

* * *

They pulled up at the Downey-Rockaway Auditorium a little after twelve-thirty. It was a huge, well-appointed building with several interesting architectural features, mostly expressed in soaring chrome and glass accents. It looked like several intersecting arches and whorls, and the effect was completely confusing and overwhelming.

Jade carried Aelphie's wheelchair off the bus and waited as the girl swung herself into the chair smoothly. Aelphie slung her backpack on the back of the chair and popped off the brakes. "Let's do it," she said.

Inside the auditorium the students were met by a tall, skinny woman who looked like she had drank far too much coffee. "Hello, hello!" she announced, waving her hands in the air. "Pay attention, please, pay attention! You are here to view the Skillman Company's dance performance in our main auditorium. There will be no flash photography inside the auditorium. There is no eating or drinking during the performance. Turn off your cell phones and all other electronic devices before entering the auditorium. Anyone who disobeys these rules may be subject to ejection from the performance and from the auditorium."

"Did anyone catch that?" Robbie asked.

"That lady's talking like words are going out of style," Andre said.

Apparently she was only going to say it once, because once she had finished speaking, the woman waved her arms at the auditorium doors and ushered them into the performance space.

Aelphie rolled alongside Jade as the group filed into the auditorium. "I'm so excited," she said. "I haven't seen a dance performance since my sister Micah's private school hip hop group did a matinee… it was terrible. Private school girls should not… ever… do hip hop."

"It couldn't have been that bad," Jade said.

Aelphie shook her head.

"It _was_ that bad?"

Aelphie nodded.

The overly-caffeinated woman came up behind them, waving her arms through the air like swords. "Okay, okay, you two! What is going on here?"

Jade turned around. "Just… trying to get to our seats."

"Oh, no. No, no. That won't work. What's…" – she waved her hands at Aelphie – "… what's going on here?"

"Wheelchair," Aelphie said, as though the woman was very slow. "Helps people go places."

"Well, you can't bring that in here!"

Jade looked around. The auditorium was set up in the usual fashion, with rows of seats and aisles separating the three blocks of seats. Nothing about the auditorium led her to believe that wheelchairs wouldn't be allowed. "Listen, lady, ease up on the Red Bull and Smarties. She's just as entitled to be in here as anyone else."

"It will _block_ the _aisles_," the woman said.

"Okay, fine," Aelphie said. She jerked her chair to a stop in the middle of the aisle, slammed the brakes on, and swung herself out of the chair. Her legless body landed on the carpeted aisle floor with a _thump_. "Is that better?" she demanded sarcastically, looking up at the woman.

Overly Caffeinated Woman had no response. She just stood in shock with a sudden horrified look on her face. "Uh. Um. Uh… yeah."

Aelphie rolled her eyes and started scooting herself down the aisle of seats, heading for the empty seat next to Cat.

"I'll move your wheelchair," Jade said, a smile on her face. Aelphie could definitely hold her own.

When she returned from moving Aelphie's wheelchair against the back wall, Overly Caffeinated Woman grabbed her by the arm. She leaned in and whispered, "Do you know that girl has no legs?"

Jade looked over at Aelphie, who was perched on the seat next to Cat, pointing at some part of the auditorium's decorative molding. Jade clapped a hand to the side of her face in mock horror. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed.

At that, Aelphie, Cat, Tori, and Beck looked over at her.

"Where did your legs go, Aelphie?" Jade asked, still speaking loudly and sarcastically.

Aelphie looked down and pretended to be startled. "Sweet Jesus! I forgot to put them on today!"

Overly Caffeinated Woman gave Jade a look of disgust. "You didn't have to be cruel about it."

"And you didn't have to be an idiot," Jade replied. "But we all make choices."

Luckily, Sikowitz came up behind the woman and she was distracted by the teacher's attire. Jade took the opportunity to take her seat next to Aelphie.

As the lights went down and the performance was about to start, Aelphie whispered, "Thanks."

Jade had to smile. Evie probably would have been a little more polite, but if Jade was going to be Aelphie's friend, she was going to do it her way.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I have no idea where I've been, but I know it's been awhile, so I'll apologize. I still treasure your reviews and favorites; I love you all.

Enjoy! (And next time it'll be longer!)

* * *

The curtains rose and for a few moments the stage was empty. Then brightly-colored spot lights began to warm the stage. Furious bursts of color appeared out of nowhere and then faded back into darkness, bathing each spot for a single moment.

The colors repeated in a swirling pattern, and when the first color of light came back to the front of the stage, there was a dancer in the middle of the light. She had appeared out of nowhere, in a costume the same color as the light – a leotard, slippers, and a flared skirt.

As each light burst back onto the stage, each puddle of light was suddenly occupied by a dancer in the same color as the lights. The lights went off and on, illuminating dancers standing very still in the midst of the spots. Each light would come on for a fraction of a second and then disappear. When it reappeared in a different place, the dancer in the corresponding costume was there. It looked like a flowing scarf of colors, though the dancers themselves appeared not to move. It was a miraculous trick of the eye and the brain, and it was beautiful.

The lights got faster and faster and the dancers swirled across the stage, though none of them seemed to even move, simply holding a first-position stance.

Then the lights went out, and there was blackness for just a single split second. When the lights came back up, the dancers were standing in rainbow order.

Whatever it was, the audience thought it was amazing. Jade clapped furiously along with her classmates.

The lights went down and the dancers prepared for the second act.

When the lights came back up, a strange machine was at the back of the stage. With a flourish of music, the tubular machine started to emit puffs of colored smoke. The dancers leapt onstage, moving in and out of the smoke. The smoke became ribbons, rainbows, scarves, wrapping the dancers in light and warmth. Every few seconds another puff of smoke in a different color would burst from the machine, and with it another dancer would come onstage. It was like watching a live-action, life-size film of fabric being woven, and it was shockingly beautiful and complex.

Each piece was more beautiful than the last. One piece featured a single dancer, moving around the stage as strobe lights illuminated his body, giving the effect of levitation. Another piece was simply the feet of the dancers, moving in such precision and synchronicity that the feet themselves seemed to take on facial characteristics.

It was all so enthralling that Jade couldn't believe when the lights went up, signaling the end of the concert. The dancers came onstage for their curtain calls, and the students in the audience clapped, hooted, and stomped their feet, giving them a raucous round of applause.

When it was all over, Jade hurried up to the top of the aisle and got Aelphie's wheelchair.

"Thanks," the girl said as Jade returned. She swung herself down the aisle, sat in front of the chair, put on the brakes, and then hauled herself into the seat.

"Like an Olympic gymnast," Beck said as Aelphie started rolling herself up the aisle.

"Yeah, I probably weigh less than an Olympic gymnast," Aelphie said with a laugh. "Even those skinny bitches from China."

Everyone around them stopped suddenly, and Aelphie clapped her hand over her mouth. "Sorry. Are the Olympics some sort of… hot point?"

"No," Jade said as Beck took her hand. "It's just that no one's ever quite as passionate about them as you just were."

"Oh, okay," Aelphie said. "So you're not upset…"

"… just stunned that someone cares so much," Beck said.

"Got it," Aelphie said.

They went out of the auditorium to a small park located nearby, to wait for their bus to pull up. Jade yanked out her cell phone and started scrolling through the messages.

"Who is going to text you?" Beck asked, leaning over her shoulder. "Everyone you know is here."

"Not my parents," Jade said, having found what she was looking for.

"Oh, today was Evie's day at the assistive technology place, right?" Tori asked.

"Mm-hmm," Jade said. "Hopefully this video is something important, not like Mom's usual videos."

"Hey, that one she did with the cat under the van was hilarious," Beck said.

"It was twenty-eight minutes of my mother making cat noises," Jade said.

"_Hilarious_."

Jade selected her mother's video and leaned in close.

"_Okay, Evie, show Mom again,"_ her mother's voice emanated from the phone, and the camera swung to show Evie, propped up in her wheelchair with her elbows on a tray. A black box was on the tray, and Evie was alternately looking at it and looking at something off-camera to her right. "_Evie, show Mom."_

Evie looked at the camera, or rather, in the camera's direction, and something like a small smile crossed her lips. Then she blew a bubble from her trach, popping it on the vent attachments, and laughed.

"_Evie_," her mother said, sounding exasperated, and Evie laughed even harder.

Annie leaned in and wiped the trach bubble with a cloth. "_Okay, show Mom again."_

Evie let out another giggle, but then she focused for a moment, her eyes goggling at the box on the tray in front of her. Her arm flailed out and slammed against the box. A robotic "_Yes_" emanated from the box, and the camera went blurry as Annie laughed and clapped at the same time.

"_Okay, Evie, let's do it with a question this time,"_ Annie said. "_Ready?"_

Evie looked at the camera for another split second, and Annie took it as a positive sign. "_Okay, Evie – do you love your sister Jade?"_

Jade's heart beat a little faster, and she found herself hoping Evie would make the right choice.

Evie giggled and her arms jerked forward. One of them slammed against the box, and the same voice said "_Yes."_

"_Good job, Evie,"_ Annie praised. "_Should we tell Jade we'll see her at home?"_

Again Jade found her heart going a little faster.

"_Yes_," the box spoke and Evie jerked back in her wheelchair, giggling.

The video ended as the Hollywood Arts bus pulled up in front of the group, and Jade found herself feeling absolutely free, lighter than she had in months.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Thanks to all my readers and reviewers! You guys are awesome. I'm so pleased that you're sticking with me through my uneven posting schedule. I have been working very hard on another fic project, but I love this story and I'm always happy to post a new chapter.

The song near the end of the chapter is "Comin' Home" by City and Colour. It's absolutely one of my favorite songs.

Enjoy!

* * *

Evie was up in her wheelchair in the kitchen when Tori and Jade came into the Wests' house. Annie was behind the counter, adding ingredients into a mixing bowl. "Hello, girls," she greeted them. "How was your field trip?"

"Awesome," Tori said. "Some really talented dancers."

"It was great," Jade agreed. "But I'm really looking forward to swim therapy today after all the time we spent on the grody bus."

"School buses are notoriously gross," Tori said, nodding. "It's so weird, though, because buses for traveling, like the ones people take tours on, they're made to be nice. Bathrooms and TVs and Wifi…"

"It's because kids don't have a choice about where they're going," Annie said sagely. "People who buy space on those tour buses want to make sure they get the most out of their money."

"That makes sense," Jade said. She dumped her backpack on one of the kitchen chairs and headed for the fridge. "You want a soda?"

"Sure. What kind do you have?"

"Um, let's see." Jade stuck her head into the fridge. "We've got orange, grape, and Dr. Fizz."

"Ooh. I've never had Dr. Fizz," Tori said.

"It's all right," Annie said. "It's not as good as Dr. Bubble, but maybe Dr. Fizz is just a general practitioner and Dr. Bubble's a surgeon."

Jade took out two Dr. Fizz sodas and passed one to Tori. "I don't understand why medical practitioners are the ones making soda. Shouldn't they… just stick to medicine?"

"Well, after people retire, they often need a hobby," Annie said. "Like MeMaw – when she retired, she started making those beaded seat cushion covers."

"She did that because Pop-Pop wasted all of their pension checks at the casino," Jade said.

"Say what you will – those seat covers are heirlooms," Annie said.

Jade grabbed a bag of Chex Mix and brought it over to the table. "All right, Evie, where's this magic box?"

Evie had been staring at her wheelchair tray until Jade spoke to her; at her sister's voice, she brought her head up and tried to focus her eyes.

"Hey there," Jade said. "I saw your video. Pretty cool stuff."

Evie goggled at Jade for a few seconds, and then a smile slowly crossed her face. "_Hah_."

"Show me the goods, Evie," Jade said.

Annie scraped the mixing bowl with a spoon. "You have to ask her a question, Jadey. That's the only problem with it – you have to start the conversation, and it's pretty limited."

"Are they going to try any other devices?" Tori asked.

"Yeah," Annie said, "but they start with this one if the patient has sight and comprehension and motor skills. I'm hoping we ace this level and then we can get onto the real conversations."

"Okay, Evie," Jade said, leaning over. "Is Trina Vega absolutely a shrew harpy with no talent?"

"Jade," Annie said seriously.

"No, it's okay," Tori said, laughing. "Tell us, Evie."

Evie smiled mischievously and jerked her arm in towards her body, her fingers dangling just over the two buttons on the device. Then, with quick certainty, she jammed her arm downwards onto one of the buttons and a computerized "Yes" rang through the kitchen.

"Atta girl, Evie," Jade said. "I'm going to run up and put my swimsuit on, and then we'll head on out."

Evie hit the button again, saying "Yes" to Jade's statement.

Twenty minutes later, they were in the Wests' van, heading towards the aquatic therapy building. In the passenger seat, Tori scrolled through different radio stations, staying on each for a few minutes to get Evie's opinion. And though it seemed like the harder she was trying to hit the buttons on the device correctly, her spasticity was working against her – Evie said "yes" to a gangster rap station, even though Jade knew her sister hated that type of music.

"It's okay, Evie," Jade said as they were stopped at a light. "Just relax. We'll put on that classical station Mom likes."

Evie sighed over the vent and flopped her head back onto her wheelchair head rest.

"Sorry, Jade," Tori said quietly.

"It's okay," Jade said. "I want to push her hard too – and so do her therapists, and Mom and Dad. But one of her neurologists gave us a strict talking-to. It's not beneficial for patients with brain injuries to over-exert themselves when trying to create new brain circuits to replace what the injury took away. It just doesn't work out. And I see she's getting tired, and when she gets tired she gets frustrated, and when she's over-tired things like seizures happen more often, her spasticity gets worse, and then she's overall exhausted and nothing we do helps her. The worst part of that is that she _knows_ when she's getting frustrated. That's progress for her, because right after the injury she wasn't responsive to anything. But now she knows, now she is able to respond to some of the stimuli we push on her, and she gets irritated when she can't keep up with our expectations."

"Do you think… she'll come back and be… normal sounds wrong," Tori said. "But, realistically, what are they expecting for Evie, recovery-wise?"

Jade watched as a group of preschoolers ambled through the crosswalk, teachers following them. "Realistically, nobody knows. They can give us best guesses and hypotheses, but Evie's writing her own book, as things go. I mean, we could talk to six different doctors and get nine different opinions on what she _should_ be doing, x-number of months after injury. Some would say we're not pushing the vent weaning as much as we should. Some would say we're not doing weight-bearing, or standing, or even that oxygen therapy that's getting so much press lately. And others would say we're crazy for not trying acupuncture or vitamins or newfangled whatever. But Evie is Evie, and she's doing this on her own time.

"Do I wish that she looked at me every time when I called her name? Would I like for her to smile at things that are funny? Or get every yes-and-no question right every time? Of course. But Evie didn't play CF by the rules, and she's not going to play a brain injury by the rules. For now and forever, she's Evie, and whatever she does, nobody's going to love her any less. If she never walks or talks or eats by mouth or breathes on her own – so what. We'll live with it."

They reached the aqua-therapy facility and got Evie out of the van. Her eyes were sliding to one side, her head jerking up off the head rest. There was a strange, pinched look on her face.

Jade put the lift back into the van and leaned down to look Evie in the eye. "Hey, lady," she said. "What's going on?"

Evie's eyes slid to the same point on the pavement.

"I know, Evie," Jade said. "I wish you could tell us what's wrong. Do you want to go swimming today?"

Evie whimpered, and her eyes jerked to the side again.

"We don't have to go swimming today," Jade said. "We can go home. We can go to the bookstore, or the beach – we can even go get ice cream. We can do whatever you want."

Evie moaned, and jerked her head back against her head rest. Her body tensed, her arms pulling up to whack her shoulders. Her fingers grazed her ventilator tubing and she exhaled over the vent, frustrated.

Jade straightened up and pushed Evie's wheelchair over to the bench in front of the aqua-therapy facility. She leaned in and tried to get Evie to look at her. "I don't want you to be upset," she said. "If swimming will make you upset, we don't have to go. Can you use your box to tell me? Yes or no to swimming?"

Evie allowed her head to flop back against the head rest, as though all the fight had gone out of her.

"Or we can just sit here and relax," Jade said. "Whatever you want."

It seemed to be the wrong thing to say; Evie's arms grew even more spastic, crossing in front of her, pushing up sharply on her shoulders. She moaned unhappily, jerking her head to one side.

"It's okay," Jade said. "Just take a minute. No pressure. It's a beautiful day out. We can just sit here."

They sat in the parking lot, Tori and Jade side by side on the bench and Evie in her wheelchair, arms and legs moving spastically as she whimpered, distraught.

It was hard for Jade to watch, and after a few tense moments she found herself singing quietly. "_Well I've been down to Georgia, I've seen the streets in the West. I've driven down the 90, hell I've seen America's best. I've been through the Rockies, well I've seen Saskatoon. I've driven down Highway 1, just hopin' that I'd see you soon."_

Tori caught on, and joined her for the chorus, their voices melding in harmony. "_Cause I'm comin' home, I'm comin' home… I'm comin' home, I'm comin' home…"_

Evie's legs stopped jerking.

The two girls started the next verse. "_I've never been to Alaska, but I can tell you this. I've been to Lincoln, Nebraska, and hell, you know it ain't worth shit. I've been through Nova Scotia, Sydney to Halifax, but I'll never take any pictures 'cause I know I'll just be right back."_

A spasm drove Evie's head against her wheelchair head rest, and a low moan escaped from her lips.

Tori and Jade just kept singing. "_I'm comin' home, I'm comin' home, I'm comin' home, I'm comin' home…"_

Evie breathed out, once, over the vent, and her arms stilled against her body.

Jade sang the next verse alone, watching Evie closely. "_Well I've seen a palace in London, I've seen a castle in Wales. But I'd rather wake up beside you and breathe that old familiar smell. I never thought you could leave me, I figured I was the one. But I understand your sadness, so I guess I should just hold my tongue…"_

"Hah," Evie breathed.

"Good girl," Jade said softly. "Now, when you're ready, if you can, tell me yes or no on swimming. Or if you just want to sit here and listen to me and Tori squawk, we can do that some more."

Evie gave a little smile, tilting her head a little to the side. It was her usual small smile, and she seemed calmer. On the ventilator's next breath, she brought one of her arms down from its place against her body and managed to hit one side of the box. "No," the computerized voice announced.

"Great," Jade said. "Thanks for making a decision. Tori, will you go run in and tell Maureen we're going to reschedule?"

"Sure," Tori said.

"And Evie and I will figure out where we want to go."

Tori headed up the sidewalk to the aqua-therapy facility, and Jade leaned forward and looked into Evie's eyes. "Evie-kins, I want you to know that I understand how hard you're working," she said quietly. "You are doing so much in such a little amount of time, and you're absolutely amazing. But I don't want you to get upset when your body doesn't do what your brain tells it to. I understand that, and I'll wait. I will always wait for you. I love you and I want to know what you want. I know you're in there. I've always known it. And we're going to get you out, I promise."

Evie jerked her arm downwards and hit the box in front of her: "Yes. Yes. Yes."

"Yes," Jade repeated. "Forever and ever, _yes_."

"Yes." The small smile crept over Evie's face again, and she breathed out, "Luh."

"Yes, Evie. I love you," Jade said, and she leaned in and kissed her sister on the top of her head. "But don't tell anyone – I've got an image to maintain."

"Yes. Yes. Yes," the box repeated, and Evie laughed aloud.


	8. Chapter 8

When Tori came back from the aqua-therapy building, Jade loaded Evie back into the van, and they drove to a nearby open-air shopping center. The stores opened out onto pleasant cobblestone walks, gently interspersed with fountains and interesting topiary.

"How about we go for a walk and see if anything jumps out at us?" Jade asked, turning back to look at Evie. "I've got your wallet with your birthday money in it, and maybe we'll find a place to have a little ice cream or something. It seems a shame to waste a beautiful day."

"I've never been here before," Tori said, looking around as they got out of the van. "It looks like a movie set."

"There was probably an independent film shot here," Jade said, opening the van doors to get to the lift. "You know, something starring someone no one's heard of with a plot that's too confusing for the average audience to understand."

"I just meant it was neat and tidy," Tori said. "At the mall I go to, there's a lot of… garbage. And slutty chicks."

"Oh," Jade said, laughing. "Well, this place hasn't been overrun by slutty chicks yet. Mostly it's just hippies and hipsters, and surprisingly that makes for a better shopping experience."

The second Evie and her chair were out of the van, the girl started coughing and choking. Her hands flew up as though she was trying to yank off her vent tubes. Jade quickly assessed the situation and grabbed for the suction machine. "Hang on, we'll fix it," she said to Evie.

Tori glanced down at the machine propped under Evie's feet, the one that displayed her heart rate and her oxygen numbers. She knew from spending time with Evie what the appropriate numbers should be, and neither of them were close. The heart rate was high, over 200, and the oxygen numbers were dropping – 78, 75, 70.

Jade suctioned Evie's trach, pumped air into the airway via the ambu bag, and suctioned again. Tori kept her eyes on the monitor – nothing.

"Come on, Evie," Jade murmured unconsciously. "Come on."

She suctioned again. Her palms were sweating and she was dangerously close to dropping the catheter. "Come on, Evie," she breathed. "Tori, can you grab the oxygen compressor out of the backseat?"

Grateful for the direction, Tori hurried around the side of the van and yanked the door open, snatched up the bag with the compressor, and ran back towards Jade and Evie. Evie's eyes were wild with panic, and her hands were bobbing around wildly, flapping at her shoulders.

"Evie, calm down," Jade said. "We'll figure this out."

She took the compressor from Tori and fed the tubing into Evie's vent circuit, cranked on the oxygen, and waited. Evie's frantic hand flapping got worse, and she jerked herself back and forth in her wheelchair.

"Damn," Jade said, her eyes on the monitor. "Shit. We're going to have to change her trach."

"What? Right here?" Tori knew it was stupid, but the words flew out of her mouth without her consent.

Thankfully, Jade was too caught up to notice the inherent stupidity in Tori's comment. She was already reaching for the backpack of supplies on the back of Evie's chair. "Okay, Evie, okay…"

It was all happening way too fast for Jade. She got the backpack open and yanked out a new trach tube. Her hands trembling, she got the packet open and set it on the girl's wheelchair tray. She took a few deep breaths, counting silently _one… two… three_.

On three she unhooked the ventilator tubing and let it flop against Evie's chest. She reached up and undid the tabs holding the trach tie around Evie's neck. There was nothing else to do but take the old tube out. "Okay… okay," she breathed.

It was surprising, but her hands were finally steady. She drew out the trach tube carefully and watched as the stoma in Evie's throat bobbed in front of her. She picked up the new trach and threaded it into the hole, whipped out the obturator that blocked the tube, and waited for Evie to cough. Her sister did, once, painfully, giving Jade enough time to grab the ambu bag from the tray. She fitted the valve over the trach tube and began pumping air into Evie's trach.

"Tori, can you get me a trach tie out of the backpack?" Jade asked, surprised to find her voice steady.

Tori found a tie quickly, and Jade talked her through attaching it to the trach tube, continuing to give breaths with the bag. Once the tie was secured, Jade brought up the ventilator circuit and reattached it.

At last the monitors stopped blaring. Evie's head dropped back against her head rest, and she gave an unhappy chirp.

"I'm going to sit down for a minute," Jade said carefully. She felt dizzy and upset for reasons she couldn't quite articulate. "But I'm fine."

She sank to the pavement behind the van and put her head between her knees. The roar in her head faded to a dull buzz, and she took several deep breaths.

Jade kept her eyes closed, listening to everything around her. She could hear Evie's ventilator, _chuff_ing and _whirr_ing in perfect rhythm, and Evie jerking back and forth in her wheelchair, letting out little moans and smashing her wrists against her wheelchair tray. Tori was perched on the back bumper of the van, tapping her sneaker toe against the blacktop. Somewhere close by, seagulls were wheeling and crying. A car honked off in the distance.

At last Jade felt safe enough to raise her head and open her eyes. Evie had stopped making noise and was sitting limply in her wheelchair, her only movements a periodic flapping of her wrists. Tori was sitting calmly on the bumper, looking patiently over at Jade.

"How's things?" Tori asked casually.

"Been better. Been worse," Jade replied.

"I think we deserve some ice cream after that," Tori said.

"I agree."

"And I suddenly feel the desire to buy something tacky and girly that I don't actually need," Tori said.

Jade nodded. "Yes. Consumerism sounds good."

Tori got up from her perch on the bumper and walked over to Jade. She put her hands out. Jade grabbed on and hauled herself to her feet. "What do you think, Evie?"

"_Gah_," Evie said.

"That's all I need," Jade said.

They walked down the cobblestone paths towards Sweet Dreams, Jade pushing Evie's wheelchair and Tori loping alongside companionably.

Sweet Dreams was a hipster-friendly cake-and-ice-cream joint. It smelled like absolute heaven to Jade after the terrifying events of the parking lot only moments before.

A perky blond waitress was behind the counter, and she looked up with a smile as they entered. "Welcome to Sweet Dreams, where sweet dreams are made of these!" she said. "What would you like to tempt your taste buds today?"

It was such an over-the-top reaction that Tori and Jade started laughing. The counter girl looked slightly offended, but Jade hurried to assure her, "Sorry, we've just had an interesting afternoon. We're not laughing at you. It's just such a relief to finally have something good happen."

The girl nodded. "I can understand that."

"I'll have the Bodacious Blueberry frozen yogurt," Tori said. "In a cup."

"Coming right up."

Jade wheeled Evie as close to the lighted ice cream windows as possible. "Okay, Evie, let's see if that magic box of yours is good for something. I'm going to read you the ice cream flavors, and you tell me which one you want."

Evie looked seriously at the display and moved her hand into place above the box.

"Bodacious Blueberry frozen yogurt, Pretty Cool Peppermint Swirl, Carmen's Cookie Dough, It's Your Birthday Cake, Fudge Chunk, Strawberry Sensation," Jade read, allowing a long pause between each of the flavors to give Evie time to react, "Pineapple Whip Supreme, Cherries Jubilee, Peanut Butter Patty, Blue Moon, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Pecan, Ooh La La Lemon, Cheer You Up Chocolate, Candy Bar Whirl, Georgia Peach…"

"Yes," the box said, interrupting Jade's litany of flavors.

"Nice job, Evie," Jade said. To the counter girl, she said, "Evie will have a half scoop of Georgia Peach in a cup, and I will have Candy Bar Whirl in a waffle cone."

When they got their frozen treats, Tori was already at a table by the window, and she waved them over. Jade grabbed some extra napkins and a spoon and pushed Evie over.

"All right, Evie," Jade said as she sat down, "we must never speak of this to Mom, because if she found out I let you eat ice cream, she will absolutely murder me."

"You give her stuff to eat all the time," Tori pointed out.

"Yes, and I never, _ever_ tell my mother," Jade said. "She gets freaked out by the thought of Evie eating. She's all for doing breathing trials off the vent, but she won't let us put anything in Evie's mouth. The birthday cake thing was rare and random, at least in my mother's eyes."

She took a little scoop of the ice cream and carefully tucked it into Evie's mouth. Evie grinned at the taste and the ice cream dripped down her mouth.

"Evie," Jade groaned. "Evie, you're supposed to eat it."

Evie laughed and the ice cream spattered over her wheelchair tray.

Jade took the opportunity to take a bite of her own ice cream.

The bell over the door of Sweet Dreams rang and a girl in a private school uniform came in, holding the door for someone behind her. A blond in a wheelchair rolled in.

"Hey, look," Tori said. "It's Aelphie."

Jade craned her neck, and sure enough, there was Aelphie.

"Do you think that's her sister?" Tori asked.

"That'd be my guess," Jade said. "She said her sister goes to some fancy private school."

The girl in the uniform went up to the counter, and Aelphie rolled alongside her, looking at the display of fancy juices.

"We should invite them to sit with us," Tori said. She looked sideways at Jade. "I mean, if that's okay with you."

"Yeah, sure," Jade said.

Evie chirped and slammed her hand down on her wheelchair tray.

"Sorry," Jade said. "Now, don't spit it out this time."

Evie turned her head and gave Jade a look, as though saying _No promises_.

Jade gave her another spoonful of ice cream, and this time, blessedly, Evie just swallowed it.

Tori got up and went over to Aelphie and her sister, and a few minutes, they followed her back to the table.

"Hi, Jade," Aelphie said.

"Hi, Aelphie," Jade replied. "How's it going?"

"Great," Aelphie said. "This is my sister Micah. Micah, this is Tori and Jade…"

"And my sister Evie," Jade said.

"Hi," Micah said. She put their cups of ice cream on the table. "Are you guys here shopping?"

"Well, we're just sort of here… experiencing the day," Jade said.

"And is the day giving you anything you can't handle?" Aelphie asked as she took a spoonful of ice cream.

Tori and Jade exchanged a look and started to laugh again.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Jade said, and felt vindicated when Evie slammed her hand down on the box, echoing "Yes" into Sweet Dreams.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Again I apologize for my inability to post chapters in a timely manner. I hope you'll forgive me.

The two songs in this chapter are "She's a Genius" by JET and "Calls Me Home" by Shannon LaBrie.

I love reviews! Enjoy!

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The Halloween Spook-Tacular was held on a Friday night in late October, when the nights were cooling off and the days dawned crisp and golden. Sikowitz and Santiago were in charge of the event, which promised to feature singers, dancers, musicians, delicious fall-themed foods, game booths, and someone named Fritz the Speed-Painter, whose name seemed to be a dead giveaway to his purpose.

Jade was in charge of tickets. She sat at the entrance to the Asphalt Café behind a table, taking money and passing out tickets. Evie sat at her side, bopping her head seemingly in time to the music pounding from the heavily-decorated stage. Their parents were away for the weekend, their first weekend away since Evie's accident. It was an odd but somehow freeing sensation.

"Jade!" Cat exclaimed excitedly, running over to greet her friend. "Isn't this awesome?"

"It's certainly… loud," Jade said, and wondered when she'd become an elderly woman, bitching about loud music.

"I'm having such a good time," Cat gushed.

"I'm glad," Jade said. Cat had seemed "off" lately, more defensive than usual, running off in the middle of conversations, going bright red for no good reason, and unable to finish the simplest of sentences. It unnerved Jade – sure, Cat was strange, but she was never rude or unhappy, and lately she had been both.

"You want some Boo Berry punch?" Cat asked.

"That sounds great," Jade said. "Thanks, Cat."

"I'll be right back!" Cat promised, and ran off. Jade watched her friend's jack-o-lantern-orange dress disappear into the crowd.

"What do you think, Evie-kins?" Jade asked, turning to look at her sister.

Evie was considering the stage through her new glasses, their thick lenses seemingly opaque in the reflected light. She had gone to see her panel of doctors at the children's hospital, and the neurologist and the ophthalmologist, working in tandem, had agreed that it was time to see if Evie really could see anything. The general consensus after her injury was that she had a cortical vision impairment, which meant that her eyes saw but her brain couldn't process the input. The glasses, in concert with prescribed vision therapy, would train Evie's eyes and brain to work together.

Jade thought it was ridiculous. She knew Evie could see. Evie always turned her head toward movement, turned her head to look at the TV, stared out the windows of the van – and Jade _knew_ Evie could see. Sure, there was probably some sort of impairment, because Evie often looked confused and she had a tendency to squint, but the idea that Evie didn't see _anything_ had to be a total crock.

Now Evie jerked her head over towards Jade, the glasses glinting in the light.

"I know, they're a pain," Jade said. "Could they have found an uglier frame?"

Upon hearing that Evie was still suffering seizures and had a tendency to drop her head without warning, the ophthalmologist had put the lenses into a pair of shatter-proof plastic frames, which were bright pink and incredibly thick. They were strapped onto Evie's head with a purple-and-blue flowered neoprene strap cinched tightly around Evie's skull, and the overall effect made Jade giggle.

"Well, if you can see, I guess it doesn't matter how ugly they are," Jade said. "And you look adorable."

Evie breathed in and out quickly over the vent, her version of laughing, and she gave Jade a small smile.

"We're only taking tickets for another twenty minutes," Jade said. "Then that weird guy from my chemistry class is coming to take our place."

Cat reappeared with two glasses of lime-colored punch and a small wrapped hard candy, which she held up in front of Evie. "Root beer barrel."

Evie's smile widened and she slammed her hand down on her wheelchair tray.

"Can I, Jade?"

Jade took a long drink of the punch, which was, incongruously enough, cherry-flavored, and nodded. "Sure."

Cat unwrapped the candy and pushed it gently into Evie's mouth. Immediately the girl started rocking and flinging her arms around, a manic grin on her face.

"I think she likes it," Cat said.

She sat down next to Jade. "Jade, I have a question."

"Yes, it is still illegal for your cousin to marry a llama."

"No, not that," Cat said. "He's moved on. He actually has a girlfriend now."

"Good for him," Jade said. She took tickets from a group of students, and then turned back to Cat. "So what's your question?"

Cat squirmed a little, and she took a sip of her punch. "Um, so… how do you know… how do you know when you… um…"

"Cat, we're all getting old," Jade snapped.

Cat went ever redder, if that was possible. "Never mind."

Instantly Jade felt terrible. "No, Cat, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so impatient. Please ask me your question."

Cat took another drink of punch. "How do you know when you like someone?" she mumbled.

"Oh, Cat," Jade said. "That is a very confusing question."

"It's okay if you don't know."

"No, it's just… I think it's different for everyone," Jade said.

"Well, how did you know you liked Beck?"

Jade smiled. "Well, it had to do with his qualities, I guess. He's kind, and supportive, and he's gentle and passionate… and he treats Evie well."

Evie clicked the root beer barrel against her teeth as though agreeing with Jade.

"He listens to what I have to say… he's interested in me," Jade said. "I loved spending time with him and he loved spending time with me. We wanted to do things together."

"Ohhh," Cat said.

"Why? Do you like someone?"

Cat went red again. "Maybe."

Evie gave a low cheer and a whistle, the root beer barrel tucked in her cheek.

"See, Evie's a fan," Jade said. "That's so sweet, Cat. Who is it?"

Cat whispered something, but Jade only saw her mouth move, as from the Spook-Tacular stage there was a roar of applause and cheering.

"Fritz the Speed-Painter," a student passing the table informed them. "He's doing caricatures of Sikowitz."

Jade turned back to Cat once the applause had died down. "Who is it?"

"Never mind," Cat said. "I'll… I'll tell you later. Come on, it's almost time for Robbie and Beck's song."

Jade had to wait for her replacement at the ticket table, and by the time he was set up and she had gathered all of Evie's stuff, Cat had disappeared into the crowd.

"Well, that was totally unlike Cat," Jade remarked to Evie as they headed for the stage. "And now I'm on the hook. She likes someone, but we have no clue who it is. Any thoughts?"

Evie clicked the candy against her teeth again.

"Yeah, me neither," Jade said.

She found them seats close to the stage and put the brakes on Evie's chair. Sinjin was walking near their aisle with a bowl of candy, and Jade waved him over. "What do you want next, Evie?"

Evie was bobbing her head in time to the music, so Jade settled for grabbing a handful of the candy from Sinjin. She set it out on Evie's tray. "Whenever you figure it out, let me know."

The stage was finally cleared of Fritz the Speed-Painter's drop cloths and easels, and Sikowitz reappeared with a microphone. "All right, let's give one more hand for Fritz the Speed-Painter!"

The Hollywood Arts students responded with clapping and cheering. When the noise faded away, Sikowitz said, "And performing next – Robbie Shapiro and Beck Oliver!"

There was another round of applause, and then Robbie and Beck came onstage. Two stools had been set up mid-stage, and the boys approached them. Robbie was carrying his guitar and Beck had a harmonica.

"Good evening," Robbie said as he settled himself on the stool.

"How's everybody doing?" Beck asked the crowd.

More clapping and cheering.

"All right," Beck said. "Robbie and I are going to perform a duet for you this evening."

Robbie began strumming chords.

Evie gave Jade a chirp. Jade looked over. Her sister had managed to isolate one piece of candy from the others.

"Nice work, Evie," Jade said. She unwrapped the bright red piece of candy and popped it into her sister's mouth.

Evie immediately started sucking furiously at the candy.

"Cinnamon, hmm?" Jade asked.

Onstage, Robbie and Beck had started singing.

"_My girl's ready to take control, she just blows my mind. She only listens to the radio… to see who's alive."_

Jade grinned. She loved this song.

"_She wakes up scared of getting old, she don't feel no shame. She knows so many pretty boys… and they are all the same."_

People were dancing, clapping their hands in time to the song. Jade grinned. Evie gave her a drooly cinnamon smile. The night was cool and somehow smelled of caramel and dried leaves.

All too soon Beck and Robbie's duet was over, and the boys were standing, receiving their applause. Jade looked at her watch. It was getting late, and she still had to get Evie home and through all of her treatments.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen, I know you're all anxious to get to the Jack-o-Lantern Ball," Sikowitz said. "We've got just one more performance this evening. Singing her very first solo here at Hollywood Arts, give a big HA welcome to Aelphie Donovan!"

People clapped and cheered, and Jade decided that she could stay for just one more number.

"That's Aelphie," she said to Evie, sitting back down. "We met her the other day, remember? She's my partner for Parents' Night."

Evie gave Jade a serious look, something that was difficult with cinnamon candy drool running down her face.

"I know, you know," Jade said. "I didn't know she could sing, though."

Aelphie gratefully accepted the microphone from Sikowitz, yanking her wheelchair to a stop. "Thank you, Mr. Sikowitz," she said. "Um, so, I'm a visual arts major, so I hope you'll bear with me tonight."

She smiled, her golden hair radiant in the stage lights. For the first time, Jade noticed Andre, sitting at the piano behind her. He began to play a simple introduction.

When Aelphie started to sing, Jade found that there were tears in her eyes and her heart was in her throat. The girl had a sweet, clear voice that raised itself to the very starry sky overhead. Aelphie might have been a visual arts major, but she had some serious vocal talent.

"_It's funny how… the walk of life… can take you down without a fight. So many years… can leave behind… regretfully until it's time… to realize the moment when you turn around_," Aelphie sang. Her eyes closed, and Jade knew she was somewhere pure and secret; it was something performers experienced and it was amazing. "_I'm coming home, to breathe again, to start again. I'm coming home… from all the places I have been._

"_With nothing but a voice within that calls me… calls me home. Back in the day, when I was younger…"_

Jade let the tears stream down her face. Though her vision was blurry, she could see Evie, watching Aelphie raptly, and the golden-haired girl herself onstage, belting out this sad song.

"… _I'm coming home from all the places I have been… with nothing but a voice within that calls me…"_ Aelphie finished the song, and there was silence for a split second. Then everyone was on their feet, cheering and clapping.

Jade hurried to wipe the tears from her eyes. When she turned to Evie, she was surprised to see that her sister's eyes, magnified behind the thick glasses lenses, were filled with tears too.

"We're going to bring you home too, Evie," Jade whispered, the torrent of applause drowning out her voice.


End file.
